Out of the frying pan

Worrying  times. Salvini, Le Pen, Orban, and now Bolsonaro, the radical right raises its shaven head once more. And the masses, digital pitchforks in hand, call out for more!

As the song said, “deep down we’re all the same, something to worship, someone to blame.”

And who can be to blame for all things evil printed in the media? Foreigners, misfits, sexual deviants, the poor, the wet left. Anyone will do. What is needed, or so these unbiased sources of information would have us believe, is a firm hand. No more nancying around; off with their heads!

From the USA to the Philippines we are told that only the Man in Charge can save the Nation and make it Great again. And the crowd, whipped up by promises of conflict and punishment, lap it up.

No time for rational  thought, for analysis, for  negotiation. No common ground sought, no compromise struck. Only confrontation, a taking of sides. You are either with us or against us.

A radicalistion on one side will lead to a similar stance being held on the other. Polarisation of opinion and beliefs leads to a breakdown in communication. The only possible result is conflict.

Which is probably the whole idea anyway. No doubt some obscure groups or other have every interesting in pitting one section of society against the other. Money will be made out the ensuing chaos. It is always that way.

Is there a way out? Naturally. It is time to keep a clear head, be well-documented, to listen to counter arguments, to find a point of agreement, to work towards a solution. As soon as a political debate spills over into a personal dislike, then all chances of a pacific settlement are lost.

The ideological split of the Spanish Civil War was a precursor the  devastation of the Second World War. Division will lead to war unless it is checked. Don’t let the demagogues get away with their selfish, short-sighted agenda. Humanity hinges on interaction and interdependence.

It is time to put a stop to the empty, inflammatory rhetoric and get back to intelligent, well-intentioned political debate.